Brian made no move to start the engine but put his arm around her and pulled her back into an embrace.
‘Yeah, what was all that about? What’s happened?’
Elizabeth let out a long slow sigh.
‘My seventeen-year-old son has got his thirty-something girlfriend pregnant.’
‘Fuck,’ was Brian’s brief response.
‘Fuck, indeed.’
He made a whistling sound and added, ‘I’m so glad I’m not a parent. What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know. Try to talk sense into them both?’ Elizabeth sounded very unsure.
Back at Aunt Eileen’s, Brian gave Elizabeth one last slow kiss and then watched her walk up the path before driving away. Retrieving the key from under a metal hedgehog that doubled as a boot scraper, she let herself in. The house was in darkness but she managed to find the light switch for the bathroom and then a bedside lamp. Sitting on the low, soft bed, she pulled out her phone and stared at the screen. This was not a call she wanted to make. Deciding that it was best to speak to Elliot first, she dialled his number.
‘Yes?’ Elliot’s voice barked down the line. He sounded as if he was answering the door to Jehovah’s Witnesses. This was the side of Elliot that Elizabeth liked the least, when he went into full teacher mode.
‘It’s me, Elizabeth,’ she replied.
‘Why are you whispering?’ he snapped back.
‘It’s late here, and I’m staying in a bed and breakfast.’
‘Why aren’t you at your mother’s?’
‘It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I see you. Nothing bad. How’s Zach?’ she asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
‘Upset.’
‘Of course. It’s a lot.’
‘With you. He’s upset with you!’ Elliot was the teacher talking to his dimmest student.
‘What?’ Elizabeth asked in an indignant whisper.
‘He rang you to share his news and you wouldn’t talk to him. Of course he’s upset.’
Elizabeth couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
‘Our seventeen-year-old son is going to be a father and this is what we’re talking about? Seriously?’
‘We have to support him through this, Elizabeth. He’s so young.’
‘I know he’s young,’ she hissed angrily down the line, ‘that’s why I’m upset. How pregnant is she? What’s their plan?’
‘Options are limited. She is very pregnant. I can’t believe you failed to notice, I mean, when did you last see her?’
Elizabeth tried to remember.
‘I don’t know. Before Christmas, but it’s winter in New York. She was covered in coats and scarves. So they’re planning to have this baby?’
She felt so useless and detached. Tears of frustration began to form.
This was her own baby boy they were talking about. She barely trusted him to pick up groceries from D’Agostino’s. How could he be responsible for another human life?
‘Look, maybe it’s not that bad.’ Elliot was trying to sound calm and reasonable now, which made his ex-wife feel the exact opposite.
‘What are you talking about? Not that bad? It’s a fucking baby, Elliot!’
‘I know. I know that, but it’s not like she’s a teenager. She doesn’t want to get married to Zach.’
‘He’s seventeen!’ Elizabeth couldn’t help interrupting.
‘But that’s the point. She’s in her mid-thirties. I’m pretty certain she didn’t plan for this to happen, but now that it has, she must be thinking that she might as well keep it or she may end up never having a baby. I don’t think Zach is part of her plan.’
Elizabeth had to admit this made sense, which in one way was a relief but in another broke her heart for her son. She imagined how he must be feeling. Along with the fear, she knew that he would be puffed up with mannish pride. But if Michelle Giardino just wanted to walk away with the baby, he’d get over it, and there would be other grandchildren with a better sense of timing. She wondered if she was a heartless bitch for thinking this but quickly told herself that she was simply concerned with what was best for her son.
‘OK. Well, I’ll talk to Zach and then we can all figure out what happens next. Is she staying in California?’ she asked hopefully.
‘No. Heading back to New York in a day or two before they stop her flying.’
Elizabeth’s heart sank. It would be on her watch.